Rajouri (J-K), Oct. 25 : A newly found cave, which is stated to have passage leading to Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu, is fascinating hundreds of curious local residents and religious minded here for its one glimpse at the Heemkanal in Rajouri District’s Budhal Tehsil.

The cave has three openings. The orientation of the first cave is headed towards Vaishno Devi temple at Katra. The second one is in the direction of Amarnath in Pahalgam located in Kashmir valley and the third leads to Buddha Amarnath in Poonch.

It is not yet confirmed who exactly first spotted the cave. Some people say that the cattle grazers about a fortnight ago found it while others aver that employees of State Election Commission spotted the cave , which is now being looked upon as a holy place.

"We came here to click photographs for elections…I came with two of my friends…When I came to know that there is some old cave here, I came to see it with my friends. We saw that this place is blessed with Lord Shiva''s grace and due to this, the water flows on all the Shivalingas equally from the cow''s udders shaped stones," said Satvinder Verma, an official of the Election Commission who claims to have discovered the mysterious cave.

Local residents always believed the presence of such cave but couldn''t find it due to dense forest.

"According to the ancestors of the villagers, the place name was ‘Devkinad’. They told the villagers about the cave many a times. But the dense forest near the cave always prevented them to go there and look for the place. A Brahmin family, whose house is near to this cave organised a Puja here but couldn''t tell anything further. Today that divine power has appeared itself and drawn all the people," said Mohammed Azhar, a villager of Budhal Tehsil.

Devotees, converging at the spot, said that they felt overwhelmed by the view inside the cave.

"We have Shivalinga in Shivakhodi and Shivalinga is also formed in Amarnath in Srinagar but here we have the entire Shiva family. There, we have an idol of Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva. There are five Shivalingas and the water is falling on every Shivalinga from cow''s udders," said Gautam, a devotee.

Meanwhile, apprehending rush of devotees and other tourists, security personnel have been deployed at the cave to avoid any untoward incident.

"As we got instructions from Special Superintendent of Police, we took over the area and deployed our police personnel since public security and safety are a must," said Rajesh Verma, a senior officer, Budhal.